‘Future Radio’s People Playlist show is where the people of Norwich pick and play their 12 favourite tracks is one of the most popular shows we broadcast on the station. It’s a chance to have an hour dedicated to the music you love and always reveals an interesting insight into why a piece of music is chosen along the way. So when a group from Culture Quest, a music appreciation group run by the Restoration Trust, got in touch we were keen to get them in the studios to start recording their show.

Dave Pullin, Culture Quest’s facilitator, told me that the group meets once a week at Norwich Arts Centre.

“The members of the group are all people who live with mental health problems and are clients of the local Mental Health Charity Julian Support. Because of the nature of their problems many members of the group are socially isolated and marginalised, the group connects people through their interest in music.

The group listens to music together and each week a member chooses a piece of music to play -all styles of music are played

The idea for the group to make a Peoples Playlist for Future Radio came from one of our members. There was a general feeling of enthusiasm for the project as it clearly fits with the main activity of the group.”

Dave contacted Future and the Future Radio team set a date for the group to come in. The plan was for each member to choose a track, and then record the links between tracks in the studio. Recording the links was something that several members expressed a lot of anxiety about, saying they would not be able to do that. Dave reassured them by suggesting they waited until the day to decide what to do. However once in the studio any fears were laid to rest. Dave praised the Future Radio team:

“I am glad to say this plan worked and two of the members who contributed links to the programme had originally said that they would not be able to do it. I think this was largely down to the friendly and confident reception we got from Amy, Dean and Ryan at the studio, they put people at ease and gave them confidence. The experience has been really good for everyone involved and we are very much looking forward to hearing the show.”